August 06, 2007

Tory MP Nicholas Soames faced calls to resign last night over a Commons speech on immigration.

It had similarities to a leaflet by the far-right BNP circulated in his constituency.

A voter complained: "We cannot have a Tory MP using BNP leaflets as a basis for research."

Labour MPs said it showed the real face of David Cameron's Conservatives. The leaflet - circulated in Mid-Sussex last month - claimed: "Immigrants and their descendents account for 83 per cent of future population growth."

In his speech on July 17, Mr Soames said: "83 per cent will be due to new immigrants and their descendants."

The leaflet claimed: "Britain is four times as overcrowded as France and 12 times as overcrowded as the USA." Mr Soames said: "The UK is already four times as crowded as France and 12 times as crowded as the US."

The leaflet claimed: "Yearly immigration is over 300,000." Mr Soames said: "We have an additional 300,000 immigrants each year."

Martin Smith, of Unite Against Fascism, said: "It is outrageous that a Tory MP should quote their leaflets or borrow their ideas. David Cameron should ask him to resign."

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: "It is unacceptable for a Tory MP to parrot the language of the BNP."

But Mr Soames branded the claims "idiotic and without foundation. I've never seen or read a BNP leaflet in my life.

"I never went anywhere near the BNP - I talked to Migration-watch, the Commons library and I used some information from Parliamentary answers."